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By now you know that exercise is good for a lot more than weight maintenance. It acts as inexpensive medicine, positively affects the aging process, and makes us better people all around. Every year new studies reveal more ways movement increases happiness, healthiness, and longevity. We baby boomers continue to redefine aging as we take advantage of increased awareness of the benefits of activity.

Let’s skim through a few fun fitness facts culled from recent research to get our motivation and life quality up, up, up! Nothing like some quick, practical hits to renew our “commit to be fit!”

General Fun Fitness Facts

Physically active older adults have more variable brain activity while resting than those who are not active. Brain variability is linked to enhanced cognitive function.

Indoor cyclists who pedaled vigorously for 45 minutes continued to burn additional calories for up to 14 hours post cycling than on days they did not cycle. (Burn baby, burn disc inferno! Come join me for a class as I just got Schwinn indoor cycling certified).

Not only does a good night’s sleep improve your memory, but also taking naps of 45-60 minutes helps you retain more information.

Food Fitness Facts

Peanuts or peanut butter for breakfast can control your blood sugar throughout the day and reduce your desire to eat for up to twelve hours. (I am not saying “nuts” to that! And See’s candies offers a dark chocolate with peanuts so that’s good news).

Drinking just 1-3 additional cups of water can help with weight control. Hydrators reduce intake of three S’s when they drink up – sugar, saturated fat, and sodium.

People who consume a greater variety of foods tend to have less body fat and be at less risk for metabolic syndrome than those who follow more limited food plans.

I don’t know about you, but I love Fun Fit Facts and Stats. You are seeing here just a few of the many I collect. What do you think? Do fitness facts, stats, and quotes motivate you as well?

Drop the pedal and go, go, Elliptigo We goin’ ridin’ on the freeway of love

Are you over 50, one day hope to be, or have loved ones who are? Then the following quotes and key points from the recent IDEA World Health and Fitness Convention are for you! And you! And, yes, you too! All of yahs! And your parents, as well. But only if you want to live healthier, smarter, or better.

My prior post promised to share the good stuff from the trend setting sessions beyond Day 1 at IDEA. This year’s convention theme was “Inspire, Connect, Transform.” We hope the following quotes and highlights do that for you.

Think About Moving or Move to Think?

Day 2 started with one of my favorite subjects: the effects on the brain from movement. Who among you knows someone with Alzheimer’s or memory loss or slowing mental capacity? Of course such ravages will never happen to us, right?

Guess what? “A case of dementia is diagnosed every 4 seconds in the U.S. If our nation were to increase its activity by 25%, we would decrease dementia cases by 1 million per year! Over 10% of adults 65 and older, and more than 50% of those past 80 have some sort of cognitive impairment.” And with these stats that take one’s breath away faster than an elliptical machine on an incline, expert presenter, Fabio Comana opened his talk, Brain Fitness.

“If you want to live longer, work in 20 minutes daily of cardio activity.” And if you want to know what’s going on in those added years, “a mere 8-12 minutes a day of aerobic exercise improves cognition.” You want to be smart and minimize dementia in your later years? Take Fabios’s advice. Don’t just think about moving. Move to think!

Falling, Falling, Falling for You

I’ve Fallen and I CAN get up, with Shari Kalkstein’s help

So I did. Over to the next session with one of my favorite presenters, Shari Kalkstein who specializes in physical function for people 70 and older. Also known as “parents of baby boomers.” Am I right? If you want your parents (insert “yourself when older”) to be independent and active as long as possible, then Shari’s protocols and warnings are important. (Click on her links to see exercises, assessments, and practical tips).

Her session, I’ve Fallen, made a strong case for preventing falls and setting up the home to account for them when they happen. And they will. “More than 18,000 older adults died from injuries related to falls in 2007. In 2008, more than 2 million older adults were treated in emergency rooms due to fall injuries.” Wonder where most falls occur? In the home, where, as Shari says, “we have complete control over our environment.” Like her, my sis and I have lots of practical moves and solutions to address this reality.

Wear and Share If You Dare

I Won a Basis Fitness and Sleep Tracker AND a Medal

After I’ve Fallen, I moseyed my way to The Future of Fitness Technology with Marco Della Torre. Spoiler alert – I earned an IDEA Fitness Inspiration Medal by correctly answering his stumper question. And talk about a coincidence, turns out Marco is one of the co-founders of Basis, now owned by Intel, the company from which I won a Basis fitness and sleep tracker. So I won two technology related prizes in a row! Yup, it’s always worthwhile to get to the IDEA Trade Show between and after educational sessions. Anyway, wearable technology is big and about to go humongous! Ready to take advantage of fun high tech fitness gear? Check out a few of our posts on the subject:

Accepting and agreeing that fitness technology will wield an ever growing impact on our workout lives, I loved how Marco ended his talk: “The biggest trend coming in wearable tech is that new ideas and products will bring people closer, rather than driving them apart.” Think about that for a sec. Instead of seeing the top of people’s heads as they bend over their phones and pedometers, you’ll be in a new world of gadgets that connect you with others more and more.

Imagine a community of like-minded, actively aging, high-functioning people who interact personally via stuff not yet invented. Might you already have something close to this? It’s coming, so be ready to Inspire, Connect, and Transform! Or maybe you will Invent the next best thing that gets people to exercise and enjoy the benefits of lifelong movement. I’ll plug that!

By Kymberly Williams-Evans

Readers: What wearable tech do you already own? Use? What do you think of it? When is the last time you crawled? Not pub crawled, but crawled like an infant?

Hot tip to those of you who want to entice baby boomer women into the world of movement and exercise :

Play nice. Emphasize the joy, fun, camaraderie, and energy that exercise brings. Am I right, ladies? We want to do what feels good or helps us live better. Skip the punishment angle, the “all or nothing” approach; get right to all the benefits and the fact that even a little movement goes a long way. Go Active Aging Women Over 50! (Yes, go to our other post on this subject if you like a good rant).